A luxray and a houndoom raced through the streets of Vermillion, people leaping out of the way so they didn't get knocked over. They growled and barked to each other, then split off, only to meet up on the outside of town. The Luxray collapsed, breathing hard. With a gentle growl, the Houndoom lifted the cat onto it's back and, at a much slower pace, continues on their way.

---*~*~*---

A delibird lands with the group and holds out a small package to Decoda. it coos and thn holds out a small clipboard; asking for a signature.

The small box reads:

Decoda.

I stopped by Saffron and picked up your tickets. It took a bit of... persuasion to get them, but here they are.

Loka.

Next to her name is a skull with horns, her little tag. If he looked close enough, one of the eye holes was a heart.

"Ha, I knew Decoda's music would work!" Cerise smiled brightly. "It seems we'll be teaching each other much sooner than we expected, eh? Let's get back to the barn so I can put it in the egg carrier for its safety, alright?" He paused as the Delibird dropped down from above and pushed a clipboard at Decoda. Cerise blinked, a bit surprised by the bird's unexpected entry and forceful personality. Despite the abrupt entry, this Delibird certainly had a good sense of timing! "Who's it from?"

Catia nods and blushes lightly when Decoda asks her about Yuno and her getting along.

"You could say that yes...."

She answered him nervously, her thoughts of what would be waiting for her when she went to be with Yuno tonight being interrupted by Decoda receiving an egg from Lucas and the Delibird swooping down to deliver something to him. She frowned a bit from the sudden interruption. That delivery sure had some unfortunate timing, coming down when she was just about to sing for everyone. She took a deep breath and forced a smile.

"I suppose I'll just let the two of you be for now. I can always just sing for you later after all."

She went to leave for the barn, turning to wave to Decoda, Cerise and the two siblings before she got out of earshot. It was a tad disappointing that she wouldn't be able to sing for everyone that she'd wanted to but at the very least she could sing for Yuno when she got back to the loft in that barn.

As she walked she got to thinking about how everything had been going for her so far with her little group. She still had a lot to do to make sure that she didn't keep getting herself into hot water with the others but maybe her own goal of settling down and being a breeder like her mother wasn't the best option for her after all? Maybe there was something else that she could do that would help her make more memories than something so peaceful....

Decoda nodded as Catia headed off on her own back to the barn. It couldn't be helped, he figured, and she could always have another chance to sing.

Surprised by the visit from the gift-giving Pokemon, Decoda received the clipboard after gently putting his guitar down, tucked the egg close to his elbow and read the note that came with the box.

"Hey, my tickets... This is from Loka!" he exclaimed, signing smooth cursive lettering across the paper quickly. Guiltily, he had been practicing an autograph signature just in case he did ever get famous during his journey."She said that she picked them up at Saffron for me, and that it took some 'persuasion' as she puts it. Heheh, that's Loka for ya - but at least we know she's alright."

As he reported the contents of the note and had taken the box from the Delibird, he conveniently left out the skull's eye being a heart, hoping it was just a smudge and not an actual heart meant for him. With all these mixed signals going around, he didn't want to get his hopes up that it was intentional.

"I wonder where she is now? Ahaha, anyway, yeah, let's get this egg somewhere nice and comfy!" he grinned as he snatched up his guitar again, ready to head back to the barn. "Thank you, Delibird!"

Delibird took the clipboard after Decoda signed, saluted the group, then flew off. Lucas and Nikki waved the group off and headed back towards the main house, hearing a man call for them.

Back at the Barn, Yuno was finishing up sweeping the loft up, and setting up sleeping bags into a cozy nest big enough for two people. She was humming a random tune, as she started spinning the broom about as if it was a weapon.

Wes was still asleep in the pile of hay he originally sat on, a few Barn Glameow curled up around him. Espeon and Umbreon were leaping about the stalls, weaving in and out of the stacked hay bales.

Catia smiled at the sight of Wes sleeping with the barn Glameow's but they looked cute by themselves. She let Poochy, Fox and Fang out of their pokeballs and immediately they started to play and roughhouse with each other, making her giggle. She debated trying to be friendly with the Glameow's but decided to just let them be alone for the time being. She instead climbed up the ladder quietly, hoping to surprise Yuno. She watched swing the broom around like she was and gave her a mischievous smile.

"What are you doing?"

She asked her, climbing the rest of the way into the loft to be with her. She kept her eyes and ears open in case Fox, Fang or Poochy got into any trouble.

Meanwhile, Poochy stopped playing with Fox and Fang for a moment to pad over to Espeon and Umbreon who were playing around. He sat down a fair distance away and gave a small sound to get their attention.

Mudkip told me that one of you would explain Umbreon's behavior but I never got the chance to sneak away from my human. Is it okay if we talk about it now? It's okay if you don't want to. I'm just curious is all.

He asks them, hoping that it was okay to hear Umbreon's story now. He hadn't had the chance earlier and as he asked that, Fox and Fang came over to listen too. Fox stumbled a bit into a Hay bale next to Espeon but popped out and shook herself off.

I wanna hear too! Can I listen to the story too Espy? Can I please?

The little Fox pokemon mewed, going to sit down in front of the Hay Bale where she'd stumbled.

"Hm." As Decoda examined the tickets, Cerise watched the Delibird take off and rise into the sky, his eyes following the bird until it was little more than a speck in the distance. For a moment, Cerise wondered how far away Loka was at this moment. Was she still in Kanto? Or had she gone somewhere else? Before walking back, Cerise took a moment to take in the smells of the ranch, feeling a certain type of nostalgia rise within him before he tried to return his attention to the present. "Better start heading back, then."

With that, he began to walk back to the barn, hands resting in the pockets of his pants as he made his way back. His eyes were focused on the ground as he walked, only looking up every few seconds to ensure he was headed in the right direction to the barn.

Decoda followed Cerise back to the barn, stuffing his unboxed tickets into his pants pocket for safe keeping. He mind was still fixed on Loka's note, curious if it was delivered on time or late to the moment she actually obtained them. Regardless of her whereabouts, Decoda had other things to try and focus on, despite all these distractions. He had a third party member now! While it wasn't who he expected it to be, he accepted this new egg with joy, anyway.

"I wonder what's inside of you?" he exclaimed happily. "I don't imagine I can just look you up in the Pokedex, can I? That'll ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?!"

The more he talked to the egg, the more silly his voice became. He stopped when he almost walked into the barn door, stepping back and over a few paces to get to the actual entrance of the building. A bead of sweat dripped down his head, hoping no one saw that.

Inside the barn, he saw Wes still lazily lounging on the hay, and four Pokemon talking with each other - 2 of them Wes' and the other 2, Catia's. She must have went back up to the loft with Yuno.

"It's as if nothing happened," he chuckled, then turned to Cerise. "You ready for my first lesson in egg-hatching? Or do you want to do something else?"

Yuno didn't hear Catia approach, but when the Fighter spoke, Yuno lost her balance and fell backward. She landed on the blanket nest, the broom handle hitting her on the head.

"N-Nothing! I'm not doing anything!" She rubbed the area where the broom hit, blushing brightly.

Umbreon got up and leaped to the top of a hay bale, turning away from the group and laying down. The small ring somewhat visible to those who cared to look. Espeon sighed at her mate's anti-socialness, turning to Poochy and Fox. Unfortunately, she was unable to hear Poochy's part of the question, but it was quickly cleared up when Umbreon spoke up.

"I don't care. Not like it will help my situation any more it hasn't." The dark eeveeloution huffed, giving an audible sigh.

"It looks like I'll be the one to tell you, then." she directed this next part to fox. "I will need one other Pokemon to accompany us, so your little dark friend here may know as well. I cannot broadcast to Dark types, Umbreon being an exception."

Rotom zapped himself out of the pokegear and went into one of the several light-bulbs hanging from the ceiling. He decided he didn't like it in there, so he zapped himself into a small generator in the corner.

"Greetings, travelling companions." His grin could be heard in his techno-voice. "How have you all been?"

"I should have some time right now." Cerise said as he knelt over where he had left his bag, rummaging around the different compartments for the egg carrier he had put away after Pawniard had hatched. After a moment of searching, he finally unearthed the contraption from one of the zipper compartments and returned to Decoda. "First, we need to be sure that it'll be safe. These carriers can ensure that the egg won't take any damage when traveling."

As Cerise explained the carriers purpose, he saw the Pokemon all seemingly in deep conversation nearby. At least Umbreon seemed less hostile towards the others... But seeing as how it distanced itself from the others, Cerise wasn't quite sure.

Espeon sighed. She could only pray that these little pokemon could be mature enough to comprehend what she was going to tell them. The psychic type glanced up to Umbreon who still had his back to the group. She spoke a bit slower to these pokemon, giving them a bit of time to let her words sink in, as well as give fang time to translate, as she reiterated what she had told the others a day earlier. (day earlier is linked, its just hard to see.)

Yuno hugged Catia back and smiled at she had her head rubbed.

"It's alright! I'm not very good with polearms. I'm more of a close combat fighter."

Decoda nodded to Cerise's words, and after putting his guitar off to the side, removed the lid of the carrier and put the egg inside. It did look rather secure in there, so he felt he could trust it.

"This is pretty cool," he commented with a smile. "Do I always have to hold it close to me for some kind of extra incubation?"

As he asked this, Rotom set himself loose and Decoda quickly followed his path to the generator in the barn. Until now, he hadn't realized there was such a thing in this place, finding it funny that there wasn't any other technology other than the lights that it needed to support.

"Who puts a generator in a barn?" he chuckled. "Hey, Rotom. Things are doing pretty good today! We scored a nice place to stay for the night, we rallied up some Mareep, I got myself my first Pokemon egg... Yeah, I think today is one of our better days! What brings you out and about?"

Poochy listened to Fang as he translated for him, Fox growing increasingly more saddened as she listened and Fang shedding a tear or two as he tried to translate as calmly as he could. Poochy gave a great sigh as he heard what had happened to Umbreon.

So that is why you have hostilities towards my human and I. This certainly explains a lot.

He says, Fox slowly getting up and padding over to Umbreon, stumbling cutely on the hay bale a bit before finally nuzzling Umbreon's side gently.

I'm sorry Uncle Umby....I wish I could comfort you as much as Aunt Espy but I'm so little. I'm too weak to do the brave things that Mister Rattata and Poochy can. I'm just....not useful.

She admitted sadly, Poochy padding over and picking Fox up by her scruff again to move her away from Umbreon so that she wouldn't get clawed or something. Poochy however, only glanced over to Espeon, a bit of anger in his eyes.

Fang, relay this to Espeon so that there is no mistake. I remember his actions the night my human master tried to show her kindness towards him and was attacked for it. She was crushed by his insensitive action and it is something I hate to see. If he ever attacks her or one of my friends again, make no mistake, I will protect them and chase him off if it means my own life. You have your devotion to your master, I have mine. I would appreciate it if you would apologize and give her a second chance to show her kindness to you as she's done for me, Fang and the little one. But I think you're too untrusting or stubborn to do anything of the sort. So....I don't expect you to make any effort at all. This is just how I feel. Take from this what you want, I will watch you.

With what was on his mind said, Poochy gave a bark at the bottom of the ladder to get Catia's attention while Fang reluctantly translated his words for Espeon. Fox looked at him with wide eyes and open confusion.

Why would Poochy say something so mean to Uncle Umby and Aunt Espy like that?

She asked, looking at Fang. He sighed and walked over to the little one, keeping his distance from the surge of anger that was sure to come from one of the other two pokemon.

Poochyena adores our human very much little one. He has been with her longer than any of us, chu.

He tells her, Fox staring at her paws nervously.

I like her too. I....I wandered out of my Momma's nest and got lost. Aunt Espy and Uncle Umby's human saved me and took me to her. She's so nice to me and Poochy and Mister Rattata....I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't like her. I mean....she has her own qualities that some humans and pokemon don't like but....she's always been so nice to me. I don't wanna ever be separated from her.

She finishes, wagging her one tail happily as she closes her eyes and imagines Catia holding her like she usually does. Fang smiles and nods, turning to Espeon and Umbreon.

While the little one is a tad inexperienced, she has a point chu. Our human is a very nice person and I've had a great time being with her ever since we first met chu. Even if Poochyena is a tad bitter towards Umbreon and his attitude towards others, he means well chu. I couldn't imagine any other human being my master chu.

He tells them.

Catia stops petting Yuno's head for a second, her thought process interrupted by Poochy's barking. She moves away from her and holds up a finger before going down out of the loft and picking Poochy up to put him into her head. Fox paws at her to be picked up as Rattata simply sits down to wait for her to put him into his pokeball, knowing that she can't give all three of them her attention all at once. Catia giggles and picks Fox up before returning Fang to his pokeball and smiling at Espeon.

"Hehe~ They're pretty needy for me huh? I hope they didn't bug you and Umbreon too much. I know he doesn't like other people or pokemon."

She told her, babying Fox a bit before calling up to Yuno.

"Yuno? Can you help me get Fox into the loft? And I hope you don't mind some fuzzy company when we sleep tonight! They like to snuggle up to me when I sleep!"

She calls up to her, waiting for her response.

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Umbreon didn't need Espeon's translation, as he heard Poochy's words loud and clear. He hopped down from the hay bales, and slowly walked from the barn, head hanging. His eyes were half closed and full of grief. Espeon sighed and watched her mate walk out, making no move to stop him. She looked up to Catia and spoke gently.

"They were quite alright, although he isn't..." she turned to watch Umbreon turn left out of the Barn and disappear. "He's been through quite a bit, so life has been difficult for him. He..." she sighs, looking down. "He tries..."

Yuno leapt down from the loft, landing in a crouch. She grinned to Catia and took a gentle hold of fox, before she climbed the ladder back up. She let fox go and gave her a gentle pat on the head.

Catia gave a small concerned look towards Umbreon as she listened to Espeon, wanting nothing more than to comfort the dark type but choosing to stay put.

"Poor thing....I really want to help him and give him someone other than you and Wes but...."

She shakes her head slightly, trying not to fling Poochy off of her head.

"I'm scared he'll just attack me again. In fact, after he did that the last time....I lost faith in all of you for a while. It always seems like I'm doomed to fail at everything that I try that I don't know for sure I can do. It's making me question being....well me."

She sighs and smiles awkwardly at Espeon.

"Sorry. I've been meaning to talk to someone about this but I'm more shy than you'd think. Ehehehe...."

She admits to the psychic type eeveelution, waving to her before noticing that the barn Glameow were still clustered up around Wes. With a small frown, she walks up and kneels down about two or three feet from them and puts Poochy down from her head. Stretching out her hand she makes some small calling sounds as she tries to garner their attention.

"Here meow meow~ I won't hurt you."

She coos to the Glameow's, hoping that one of them might come over and let her pet it. Poochy sits down on his haunches nearby and watches his trainer, being wary in case any of them suddenly became hostile but not showing hostility himself.

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Espeon smiled a tiny bit at Catia as she tried to win over the attention of the Glameow that had cuddled into Wes's lap. One simply looked over at her, while the other stood up and ever so slowly crept towards Catia's outstretched hand. It finally reaches her and sniffs her outstretched fingers before rubbing it's head on her palm, purring a bit.

"I am here to listen, if you find you cannot talk to your other humans..." Espeon spoke quietly, hopping up to where Umbreon was and laying down.

Catia gives a small giggle as the Glameow rubs its head up against her palm, obliging its gesture for attention calmly as she slowly rubs its head and scratches it behind its ears.

"Hehe~ You're a friendly little one now aren't you?"

She coos to it, slowly sitting down onto the backs of her legs and patting them a bit to signal she wanted it to hop up into her lap so she could give it more attention.

Fox looked at the new girl in confusion when she was suddenly taken from Catia and up into the loft. She leans into the new girl's attention before mewing and pawing at her legs for more attention. She liked being pet and given attention, even from this new girl. She seemed nice and she knew Catia wouldn't just hand her over to someone else to be taken care of. She had faith in her human's judgement as she sat back onto her haunches and wags her tail lazily.

"The carrier provides all of the incubation heat that an egg needs, so you holding it probably won't provide much more. But my Grams always said that showing an egg love before it hatches helps form a deep bond that can go beyond friendship! As for hatching... there's not too much else we can do right now, unless we had certain Pokemon with us that can help accelerate the hatching process. But as far as I know, we don't, so we'll probably be waiting for a lil while, haha!!" Cerise replied as Decoda put the egg in the carrier. Cerise himself went back over to where he'd put his bag and traveling supplies. "For now, we can only really wait every now to see if it's come any closer to hatching."

As Cerise dolled out the information about hatching eggs, Decoda followed along with "uh-huhs" and nods. Once he was finished, Decoda began to put away his guitar, and deemed that the egg inside the case was too big to fit into his full case.

"I think I can do that. It doesn't sound so hard now that you break it down like that!" he smiled, setting the egg inside the carrier beside the zipped-up guitar case. "I think I can handle it."

After everything was neatly put away, the red head looked outside the open door of the barn. In the distance he could hear the bleating sheep Pokemon, the rumbling cattle and all the other noises of nature. It was peaceful. Now that the afternoon was coming to an end and dusk began, he wondered if there was anything else he could learn today.

Yuno picked up the vulpix and nuzzled her face against it's, closing her eyes. This tiny creature reminded her of when her brother caught his growlithe, which was probably an Arcanine now... She opened her eyes and stroked Fox's fur gently.

"Be good for Miss Catia... Grow up to protect her and love her as she loves you." she whispered.

The glameow purred and rubbed it's head against Catia's side, then began pawing at one of the empty pokeballs on her belt. It seemed to want to play more then anything.

Catia smiled and laughed when the Glameow pawed at one of the empty pokeball's on her belt, taking it out and showing it to the small cat pokemon.

"Is this what you want to play with? You can play with it if you want to."

She tells it, giving the small pokeball a light toss. It rolled over to where Decoda and Cerise were talking, tapping Decoda's ankle lightly as it touched him.

Fox purred at the attention Yuno was giving her, her whispered words causing her a bit of confusion. Of course she would grow up to be big and strong enough to love her human as much as she could. Why wouldn't she?

"I'll be around if you ever have questions." Cerise smiled at his friend before heading back to where he'd put down his belongings. Slowly lying down on the pile of hay and straw, he could feel the drowsiness of the day creeping upon him. Rather than fight the urge to sleep, Cerise allowed himself to drift off into slumber.

The glameow purred and rolled about with the pokeball, playing with it tirelessly. Eventually, it picked up the pokeball and hopped up into the loft. It placed the ball down and meowed at Catia, then walked further into the rafters.

Yuno sighed lightly, and lay down on her laid out blankets and sleeping bags, holding fox close and petting her gently. She closed her eyes, waiting for Catia to return.

Umbreon came wandering back into the barn, hopping back up to rest next to Espeon. He glanced at all of the sleeping party members before falling asleep.

Catia watched the Glameow play around with her pokeball before it jumped up into the loft, the meow prompting Catia to get up and follow it into the rafters where it was. After getting her pokeball back and smiling at the Glameow, she went to join Yuno in their makeshift bed in the loft, letting Poochy and Fang out of their pokeballs before smiling at Fox who was now asleep in her arms. Silently she crept into the bed next to Yuno, smiling as she put her arm around her and kissing the top of her head.

"Sorry I took so long. Did you miss me?"

She asked her.

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